Monday, June 30, 2014

LOIS ANN GEARY July 25th, 1929 June 28th, 2014 Lois Ann
Geary was born on July 25th, 1929 in Fort Wayne, IN, the second of six
children. The family moved to Cincinnati, OH in 1938, where Lois spent the
following 23 years. In 1961 Lois arrived in Santa Fe, NM where she lived until
her death. Lois was a fixture in the Santa Fe arts community, where she acted
in countless stage productions. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, she also
appeared in numerous films including Silverado, The Astronaut Farmer, Sunshine
Cleaning, and The Last Stand. Lois was also a tireless advocate for animals,
volunteering at adoption clinics, animal shelters, and with animal habitat
conservation groups. Lois passed away peacefully at her home on Saturday, June
28th, surrounded by friends and family. She is survived by her daughter, Janice
Bledsoe of Augusta, GA; her sisters Georgianna Tombragel and Joan Blumberg of
Cincinnati, OH; her sister Dianne Davis of Tucson, AZ; fifteen nieces and
nephews; and her rescued pets Lancelot, Mamie, and Penny. A memorial service
will be held on Thursday, July 3rd at 11 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist
Congregation at 107 West Barcelona Road, Santa Fe, NM 87505. All are welcome.
Berardinelli Family Funeral Service 1399 Luisa Street Santa Fe, NM 87505 (505)
984-8600

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Documentary pioneer Wolf Koenig (pictured), who spent 47
years working at Canada’s National Film Board (NFB), has passed away at the age
of 86.

Over the course of a long career covering documentaries,
animation and narrative work, the German-born Canadian filmmaker co-directed
several historically significant NFB docs including City of Gold (1957), The
Days Before Christmas (1958) and Stravinsky (1965).

Alongside notables such as Terence Macartney-Filgate,
Roman Kroitor and Tom Daly, Koenig was one of the principal contributors to the
NFB’s Candid Eye series, which was influential in the development of direct
cinema.

In a memoriam posting, the Canadian organization praised
Koenig’s films “for their sophisticated style and what was often a subtle irony
in their observation of human behavior and modern society.”

The NFB noted that the filmmaker designed the animation
for Colin Low’s The Romance of Transportation in Canada (1953), winning an
award in Cannes; and was also the cinematographer for Corral (1954), Low’s
first documentary.

“The style of this film, with its poetic approach and
absence of commentary, was a first in a Canadian documentary production,” the
organization wrote of the latter.

Other docs he co-directed included Glenn Gould – Off the
Record (1959), a portrait of the eponymous pianist; and Lonely Boy (1962), a
short film on pop star Paul Anka. Both were co-directed with Roman Kroitor.

Koenig served as exec producer of the NFB’s animation
studio from 1962-67 and again from 1972-75. Later in his career, he worked as a
producer of docs and animated films, including Kanehsatake: 270 Years of
Resistance, Alanis Obomsawin’s account of the Oka crisis, before retiring from
the NFB in 1995.

In an oft-repeated (and oft-paraphrased) quote about the
nature of documentary making and editing, he famously said: “Every cut is a
lie. It’s never that way – those two shots were never next to each other in
time that way. But you’re telling a lie in order to tell the truth.”

Koenig was born in 1927 and passed away yesterday (June
26). He is survived by his sister Rachel Byck, his brother Joe Koenig, and his
nieces Judy, Sarah, Susan, Anne, Nina and Debbie.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Bit player and character actor Victor ‘Vic’ Izay died on
January 20, 2014 in Glendora, California. He was 90. Vic was a war hero,
author, director, playwright, teacher, Shakespeare scholar, clown, gourmand,
and bon vivant, and while never quite making the A-List by winning an Oscar or
an Emmy, he managed to carve out a career in film, television, and the theatre.

Victor was born December 23, 1923 inn Watertown, New York
to Hungarian immigrants George and Helen Izay in the same year as Marcel
Marceau, Harry Reasoner, Maria Callas, Norman Mailer and Henry Kissinger.His father was successful in real estate
until the crash in 1929.The family was
broke and they moved to Syracuse.To
help make money for the family's expenses, the young boy had to endure a
miserable paper route for four years delivering the morning Post-Standard in
all weather.

Everyone who knew Vic loved him and that is no exaggeration
for he was an excellent host and storyteller.You only had to attend one of his Christmas/Birthday parties or Backyard
Shakespeare get-togethers to become a fan.He was a humble and self-effacing man but to his family he was "big
in the business," a phrase he used playfully to describe his modest
Hollywood career.

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of
PAULA KENT MEEHAN, Founder of Redken Laboratories, Inc. Paula passed away
Monday, June 23rd in her Beverly Hills home at the age of 82. Ms. Meehan
established the “Scientific Approach to Beauty” based on her dedication to
developing products that respect the natural pH of the hair and skin. She also
pioneered the concept of teaching chemistry to hairdressers, enabling them to
better serve their clients.

“Today, we lost a
true legend in the professional haircare industry. The legacy that she has left
sustains the brand today,” says Redken US General Manager, Leslie Marino.
“Paula created products and education programs that propelled the industry’s
transformation. Her pioneering ways will be missed but her spirit will be in
our hearts and minds forever.”

In 1960, a young actress and model, Paula Kent, launched
her business career, founding with Jheri Redding, a small California based
company, Redken Laboratories, Inc. Ms. Kent pioneered the “Scientific Approach
to Beauty” based on her dedication to developing products compatible with the
natural elements of hair and skin. Her highly sensitive skin and hair reacted
adversely to many products on the market. Her quest was to discover why. Redken
began with three products and an intensive education program for hairdressers
about the chemistry of hair and skin thereby enabling them to better serve
their clients and generally elevating a career in hairdressing to that of a
profession.

For the last 21 years, Ms Meehan has been headquartered
in her Beverly Hills KenQuest building which will serve as a tribute to her
memory. Paula created the Global Salon Business Awards through the B.E.S.T.
Foundation to honor leading salons in the world for their strategy,
globalization, brand and lifestyle marketing, creativity, inspiration and
entrepreneurship. Paula Kent Meehan has received countless industry awards
including “Hall of Leaders” given by the North American Hairstyling Awards and
Intercoiffure’s Lifetime Achievement. In 1992 she was named one of
Entrepreneurial Women magazine’s “Eight Most Powerful Woman Business Owners”
and was selected as one of the “Top Fifty Women Business Owner” by Working
Woman magazine. #1 on Los Angeles Business Journal’s list of women-owned
businesses in LA for four consecutive years; also named 2003 “Woman of the
Year” for California’s 42nd assembly district.

Paula’s wide-reaching philanthropic work most recently
included major donations to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
and the Beverly Hills 9/11 Memorial Garden. She served as president of a pet
rescue and adoption foundation she opened in Beverly Hills called Pets 90210 –
The Pet Care Foundation. An avid animal lover, Paula was also a supporter of
Woofstock.

It’s been said, “You just cannot out give Paula Kent
Meehan.”

One message Paula would leave to us would come from the
pen of her favorite poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “That which should come to you
will come to you through open and winding passages.”

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Eli Wallach, an early practitioner of method acting who
made a lasting impression as the scuzzy bandit Tuco in "The Good, the Bad
and the Ugly", died on Tuesday at the age of 98, the New York Times
reported.

Wallach appeared on the big screen well into his 90s in
Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer" and Oliver Stone's "Wall
Street" sequel and other films.

"It's what I wanted to do all my life," Wallach
said of his work in an interview in 2010.

Having grown up the son of Polish Jewish immigrants in an
Italian-dominated neighborhood in New York, Wallach might have seemed an
unlikely cowboy, but some of his best work was in Westerns.

Many critics thought his definitive role was Calvera, the
flamboyant, sinister bandit chief in "The Magnificent Seven". Others
preferred him in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" as Tuco, who was
"the ugly", opposite Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's classic
spaghetti Western.

Years later, Wallach said strangers would recognize him
and start whistling the distinctive theme from the film.

Wallach graduated from the University of Texas, where he
picked up the horseback-riding skills that would serve him well in later cowboy
roles, and studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse Actors Studio before
World War Two broke out.

DYNAMIC ACTOR, PROLIFIC CAREER

"Wallach is the quintessential chameleon,
effortlessly inhabiting a wide range of characters, while putting his
inimitable stamp on every role," the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences, which gave him an honorary Oscar in 2010, wrote in a profile on its
website.

After serving as an Army hospital administrator during
the war, he found work on the New York stage and took classes at the Actor's
Studio, which used Method acting in which actors draw on personal memories and
emotions to flesh out a role.

He appeared in "This Property Is Condemned" and
ended up marrying the show's leading lady, Anne Jackson - a marriage that also
led to several stage and screen collaborations.

Wallach made a name on Broadway with roles in two
Tennessee Williams' works, "Camino Real" and "The Rose
Tattoo," for which he won a Tony in 1951, as well as a two-year run in
"Mr. Roberts."

His first movie was another Williams work, "Baby
Doll" in 1956. Other major films included "How the West Was
Won", "Mystic River", "The Holiday", "Lord
Jim" and "The Misfits" - in which he starred with Clark Gable
and Marilyn Monroe with John Huston directing an Arthur Miller script - and
"The Godfather Part 3."

Despite the notable movies, Wallach said it was his
portrayal of the villain Mr. Freeze on the "Batman" television show
of the 1960s that generated the most fan mail.

Wallach titled his autobiography "The Good, the Bad
and Me: In My Anecdotage". He and his wife lived in New York and had three
children.

The New York Times said his death had been confirmed by
his daughter.

WALLACH, Eli (Eli Herschel Wallach)

Born: 12/17/1915, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.

Died: 6/24/2014, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Eli Wallach’s westerns – actor.

The Magnificent Seven – 1960 (Calvera)

The Misfits – 1961 (Guido)

How the West Was Won – 1962 (Charlie Gant)

Outlaws (TV) – 1962 (Sheriff Ned Devers)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966 (Tuco)

Ace High – 1968 (Cacopoulos)

Mackenna’s Gold – 1969 (Ben Baker)

Long Live Death... Yours! – 1971 (Max Lozoya)

The White, the Yellow, the Black – 1975 (Sheriff Edward ‘Black
Jack’ Gideon)
Time Machine: When Cowboys Were King (TV) [himself]

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

One of the UK's top stunt men, Terry Richards, who
starred in more than 100 films including Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark
has died aged 81.

Known to hundreds of millions of people the world over as
the black clad swordsman felled by Indiana Jones

Terry Richards, who lived in sheltered accommodation off
Sharps Lane, Ruislip, was known to hundreds of millions of people the world
over as the black clad swordsman felled by Indiana Jones in the famous market
square scene in the 1981 film, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, starring Harrison Ford.

David Terence Richards - known to all as Terry - was born
in south London on November 2, 1932.

He went on to serve with the Welsh Guards, and after
leaving the regiment, was working in London as a scaffolder. One of his
friends, also an ex-guard, said a film crew needed extras with military
training, so Terry gave it a go.

After a few successful engagements, he was then asked if
he would fall off the scaffold for a riot scene. The stunt paid a few extra
pounds – and that was the beginning of his career.

Terry Richards joined the film industry proper in 1957,
as an extra then soon as a stunt man, working with Kirk Douglas in The Vikings
(1958).

The Stunt Register, an industry list of accredited
performers, was created in 1960 and Terry was one of its founding members.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

James Nelson, a sound editor, supervising sound editor
and producer for film and television with more than 180 credits, including
“Easy Rider,” “Five Easy Pieces,” “The Exorcist” and “American Graffiti,” has
died. He was 82.

Director Monte Hellman, on whose classic 1971 film
“Two-Lane Blacktop” Nelson worked, said, “He was one of my closest, dearest
friends. He’s worked on all my movies. His first work was in sound editing and
he did that on all my movies and even on the last one, ‘Road to Nowhere,’ he came
in as a consultant just to make sure everything was right because I just
wouldn’t do anything without his approval.”

Nelson was said to have been a producer on “Star Wars”
but was said to have had a fight with Lucas and have pulled his name from the
credits.

Nelson was the uncredited sound effects editor on the
1956 film “Rock Around the Clock,” starring Bill Haley and the Comets, and on a
number of other rock ‘n’ roll themed movies in the late ’50s and early ’60s, as
well as on the 1958 film “The Girl Most Likely,” starring Jane Powell; John
Frankenheimer’s 1962 “Birdman of Alcatraz” (on which he was credited for
special sound effects); 1963 musical adaptation “Bye Bye Birdie”; a number of
the so-called beach party movies.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Gloryette Patricia Clark, lost her long and courageous
battle with Parkinson's Disease on June 8, 2014. Born on March 17, 1934,
Gloryette lived a full life of achievement, love, adventure and beauty. She
grew up in the Las Vegas and Los Angeles area, graduating from Van Nuys High in
1952. From there, it wasn't long until she was working for Disney in the
Publicity Department. From Disney, she moved up to Universal, eventually
becoming a Film Editor, Screenwriter and Director. No small feat in an era and
field that was predominately male. She worked a total of 35 years in the Motion
Picture and Television Industry. In 1972, she was nominated for a Primetime
Emmy for Outstanding Editing for her work on "The Bold Ones; The
Lawyers". She had the pleasure to work with many famous Writers, Producers
and Directors, including, Stephen J. Cannell, Roy Huggins and Robert Blake. Her
professionalism and amazing talent earned her the highest regards from all who
worked with her. The greatest love of her life, was her Family. She leaves
behind her beloved Brother, David (Deborah) Howe, her two Sons, Kevin (Dawn)
Clark and Doug (Suzanne) Clark, 11 Grandchildren, 2 Great Grandchildren and a
large extended family, all of who loved and cherished her. We will forever miss
and love our Sweet GG.

Memorial Services are Private, and the Family requests
that in lieu of flowers donations be made to “The Michael J. Fox Foundation for
Parkinson's Research."

Aleksandr Aveksandrovich Kavalerov died on June 17, 2015
in St. Petersburg, Russia. Aleksandr was
a Soviet and Russian actor born in Leningrad, Russia, U.S.S.R. on July 10, 1951.
Kavalerov was his mother's surname; his
father was Simon S. Epstein. Starting his cinema career in 1960, at the age of
9, he then appeared in several roles as kids and teenagers. Until 1980 he
appeared in more than 25 movies. Later Kavalerov departed from cinema and
returned again in 1990s-2000s, playing small roles in TV series.

Monday, June 16, 2014

He died this morning the director Nicola Nostro, known to
all as Nick. Nostro was 83 years old.

From an early age he worked in the film industry as a
screenwriter and assistant director. In 1962, his directorial debut with the
movie ‘Il sangue e la sfida” in which appeared Andrea Checchi, José Greci,
Gérard Landry and Rossella Como.

Nostro had directed a dozen films before returning to
Gioia Tauro, where he managed a business for many years.

The funeral will be held tomorrow at 15.30 to the
cathedral of Gioia Tauro.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Ruby Dee, the award-winning actress whose seven-decade
career included triumphs on stage and screen, has died. She was 91.

Dee died peacefully at her New Rochelle, New York, home
on Wednesday, according to her representative, Michael Livingston.

Dee -- often with her late husband, Ossie Davis -- was a
formidable force in both the performing arts community and the civil rights
movement. She was friends with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and
received the Frederick Douglass Award in 1970 from the National Urban League.

Davis preceded his wife in death in 2005.

Dee earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in
"American Gangster" (2007). She also won an Emmy and Grammy for other
work.

Broadway star Audra McDonald paid tribute to Dee when she
accepted a Tony Award last Sunday, crediting Dee, Maya Angelou, Diahann Carroll
and Billie Holiday for making her career possible. McDonald won a best actress
Tony in 2004 for playing the same role Dee played on Broadway in 1959 and in
the 1961 film version of "A Raisin in the Sun."

Her acting career started in New York in the 1940s, but
it was her role in the 1950 movie "The Jackie Robinson Story" that
first brought her national attention.

British cinematographer and former camera operator Dennis
Lewiston died on June 8, 2014 in England. He was 80. His career spanned the 1960s through
the 1990s. He worked mostly on American television movies and occasionally
worked as a film director or screenwriter.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Martha Hyer, one of the last studio glamour girls of the
Golden Age of Hollywood, died May 31 at her Santa Fe home. She was 89 and had
lived in Santa Fe since the mid-1980s.

A representative from Rivera Funeral Home confirmed the
death and said there was no funeral service or memorial planned.

A striking blonde who once turned down a date request
from the young Sen. John F. Kennedy, Hyer was nominated for an Academy Award as
best supporting actress for her work in 1958’s Some Came Running, an MGM film
starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine. She lost to Wendy
Hiller, for her role in Separate Tables. Although she put on a good face during
the remainder of the Oscars show, Hyer later recalled that she went home and
cried all night.

The Oscar nod did not help Hyer’s career, which started
with a three-year contract at RKO in the early 1940s and ended with a series of
forgettable cheap films made in both America and Europe.

Martha Hyer was born Aug. 10, 1924, in Fort Worth, Texas,
to Julien C. Hyer (a Texas legislator) and Agnes Barnhart. In her 1990
autobiography, Finding My Way, she described her childhood desire to be an
actress and her love of film. “Movies were magic, our passport to outside,” she
wrote.

She enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse in California,
where she was spotted by a Hollywood talent agent — despite the fact that she
was playing a bearded elder in a Greek tragedy. Soon, she was under contract to
RKO during the war years, appearing in several B-Westerns. “I was Little Nell
in lots of those,” she wrote.

For several years, Hyer was unable to secure a secure
toehold in Hollywood, although she worked in everything from Abbott and
Costello Go To Mars to the B-adventure Yukon Gold and the African safari film
The Scarlet Spear. She married the latter’s director, C. Ray Stahl, but the
marriage quickly ended in divorce.

Hyer’s first big break came when she was cast as William
Holden’s fiancée in Billy Wilder’s 1954 romantic comedy Sabrina, which starred
Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. In her autobiography, she recalled Bogart
as being helpful and selfless in his scenes with her.

But ensuing roles in pictures like Red Sundown, opposite
Rory Calhoun, and Francis in The Navy, opposite Donald O’Connor and a talking
mule, again stalled Hyer’s career. She worked with Rock Hudson — whom she said
was shallow and self-centered — in 1956’s Battle Hymn. In quick succession, she
found herself playing straight woman to the likes of David Niven, Bob Hope and
Jerry Lewis in films that spotlighted their characters, not hers. She liked
Niven and Hope, but not Lewis.

Some Came Running, based on the James Joyce novel,
briefly rescued Hyer and brought her critical acclaim. She wrote fondly of the
experience, noting that MacLaine was “brilliant,” Sinatra “never better” and
Martin “marvelous.” MacLaine received a best actress nomination for her work on
the film.

But most of Hyer’s 1960s films were weak, including
Bikini Beach, House of 1,000 Dolls and Picture Mommy Dead — “all ones I’d
rather forget,” she wrote. She did secure a supporting role in Hal Wallis’ 1965
production The Sons of Katie Elder, but she again played second — or in this
case, fifth — fiddle to a cast topped by John Wayne and Dean Martin.

She married Wallis in December 1966. In her
autobiography, she reflected on both his strong points and his weaknesses,
including his tight-fisted approach to spending that left her to finance the
couple’s lifestyle.

By her own admission, Hyer became caught up in the
high-living culture of the Hollywood lifestyle and began overspending. Shortly
after she penned a first-person account of her lifestyle in a 1959 Life
magazine article, she came home to find her Hollywood home robbed of all its
goods. She later managed to pay ransom money to get some of her paintings back.

Worse was to come. By the early 1980s, Hyer was in debt
to loan sharks, to the tune of several million dollars. With her career behind
her — her last film roles were in the early 1970s — she turned to God for help
and found immediate solace and peace. In her memoir, she wrote: “God poured
through me.”

Shortly thereafter, Wallis, as well as some lawyers and
the FBI, helped Hyer work her way out of her financial mess.

Hyer first visited New Mexico when Wallis was here
filming Red Sky at Morning, the 1971 movie version of Richard Bradford’s 1968
novel. “The Indians say Santa Fe is sacred ground. I believe it,” she wrote.

Wallis died in 1986, and Hyer moved to Santa Fe shortly
thereafter. “This country casts a spell and it never lets go,” she wrote.

Hyer became somewhat of a recluse in her later days,
preferring to paint, hike and spend time with close friends.

“When you live with fame as a day-to-day reality, the
allure of privacy and anonymity is as strong as the desire for fame for those
who never had it,” she said.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

The actor Jacques Herlin, supporting actor who had an impressive
filmography, died Saturday June 7th at the age of 86 in a Paris hospital, his
talent agency Artmedia told AFP..

Born August 17, 1927 in Paris, Jacques Herlin had more
than one hundred films to his credit in nearly 60 year career. His last major
role was that of brother Amédée in "Of Gods and Men" by Xavier
Beauvois film awarded the Grand Jury Prize of the Cannes Film Festival in 2010.

This spring, he appeared in "Street ravishing"
based on a novel by Boris Vian, to be released in September on France 2.

The family announces with sorrow his death in North Bay,
Monday June 2nd 2014 at the age of 54 years. Son of the late Jean Claude
Labelle and of Fleurette Fortier (née Plante) (Bert). Loving father of Gilles (Pamela)
of Ottawa and Alain of Sturgeon Falls. Dear brother of Michel (Maria) of
Welland and Laurent (Thérèse) of Alberta. Also survived by his best friend and
caretaker Roberte Bureau of Sturgeon Falls. Yvan was an actor, known for his
role in Black Robe (1991), The Spreading Ground (2000), Bogus (1996) and many
more. Many thanks to Dr. Andrée Morrison and to all personnel at the North Bay
Regional Health Centre- Critical Care Unit for their dedicated and
compassionate care of Yvan. The family will receive friends at the Théorêt
Bourgeois Funeral Home, Sturgeon Falls, Saturday June 7th 2014 after 10:00 am.
A funeral service will follow at 12:00 (noon) in the funeral home chapel.

Cliff Severn, a former USA national team player and
pioneer in Southern California cricket, died on Wednesday at the age of 88.
Severn was a longtime member of the Los Angeles cricket community and many
players and supporters have taken to social media to mourn his passing.

"A US Cricket legend, true lover and devotee of
cricket," wrote Madhukar "Mark" Sood, a member of the Southern
California Cricket Association board of directors. "God bless and RIP.
There will be cricket in heaven now."

Clifford EB Severn was born in London, England on
September 21, 1925, and was the second-oldest of eight children to Dr. Clifford
B Severn a South Afrikaner, and mother Rachel, an Afrikaner. Dr. Severn moved
the family back to South Africa and then Los Angeles in 1933, where all eight
of the children went on to have varying degrees of success in the Hollywood
film industry. Clifford EB Severn is listed on IMDB for having roles in 18
movies including 1938's A Christmas Carol, a starring role in 1940's Gaucho
Serenade alongside famous American cowboy movie star Gene Autry, and a small
part in legendary director John Ford's 1941 Academy Award winner for Best Picture,
How Green Was My Valley.

Severn played cricket for Hollywood CC in his youth
alongside former England Test cricketer and actor Sir Aubrey Smith. At age 18,
he quit his acting career to join the British Army in South Africa during World
War II. Upon his return to Los Angeles, he became increasingly active in the
local cricket community. His father left Hollywood CC and, together with Cliff,
created Britamer Cricket Club in 1947, one of the oldest clubs in the SCCA.
Severn remained loyal to Britamer CC as a player and administrator for 50
years. Along with Cliff, two other brothers also wound up playing for the USA -
Winston and Raymond.

"He was colorblind in the sense that he really
wanted to bring anyone and all people to this game of cricket," Severn's
son Cliff told ESPNcricinfo. "When he went on a trip, he would always
bring a cricket bat and would always try to take one on a plane with him. If he
ran into someone from a cricket country, whether it was India, Australia,
Bangladesh, he would approach them and start talking cricket. If they lived in
California, he would try to get them to join because a lot of people come to
this country not realizing cricket is played here. He brought a lot of people
into Southern California cricket."

Severn made his USA debut as a 39-year-old alongside
22-year-old brother Winston in 1965, against Canada, at Calgary's Riley Park as
part of the longest running international rivalry in international cricket now
known as the Auty Cup. He batted at six making 26 and 4 in the drawn two-day
match. A year later in the return contest at The Sir C Aubrey Smith Field in
Los Angeles, Severn opened the batting for USA while making 24 and 8 in USA's
54-run win.

The Sir C Aubrey Smith Field had opened in 1933 and was
part of Griffith Park in Los Angeles where cricket was played from 1898 until
1978 when the property was seized and turned into an equestrian facility for
the 1984 Summer Olympics. The SCCA acquired three grounds at Woodley Park in
the nearby suburb of Van Nuys as a substitute for the space lost at Griffith
Park. The fourth and final ground at Woodley's Leo Magnus Cricket Complex was
acquired in the mid-1990s and is named the Severn Ground after the patriarch of
the family, "Doc" Severn.

Aside from his involvement with Britamer CC and Hollywood
CC, Severn also helped establish University Cricket Club initially as a vehicle
for students at UCLA, where he went to college, before membership opened up to
the broader cricket community. Outside of Los Angeles, he also co-founded
Stanford Cricket Club in the Northern California Cricket Association and
remained an active player in social cricket matches around the Los Angeles area
until he suffered a stroke at the age of 85 in October 2010. Severn also
battled through a series of smaller strokes to keep playing for another year
into 2011. Despite the complications, he continued to turn out at Woodley to
watch and stay involved in the camaraderie of the game.

"One of the nicest gentlemen I have ever met my
entire life," wrote USA offspinner Abhimanyu Rajp. "He did more for
cricket in USA, SCCA, than one could ever know. 'I wish I had your spin,' he
claimed to me once. That was an honour in itself. There is a field named after
his family here at the Leo Magnus Cricket Complex. But I bet a lot of people
don't know why. It's a great loss to the cricket community. His legacy will
live on long after him."

Severn is survived by his wife of 46 years, Percy, his
brothers Winston and Christopher, as well as son Clifford and daughter
Catherine.

Friday, June 6, 2014

She played teens in such 1940s and '50s films as
"The Heiress," "Junior Miss," "That Brennan
Girl," "Dear Ruth" and "I Was a Shoplifter."

Actress Mona Freeman, cast as a perpetual teenager
throughout the 1940s and '50s in such films as The Heiress, Junior Miss, Dear
Ruth and I Was a Shoplifter, has died. She was 87.

Freeman died May 23 in her Beverly Hills home after a
long illness, her daughter, actress Monie Ellis, told the Los Angeles Times.

Freeman also was a painter, whose portrait of Mary See
has been displayed for years in See's Candies stores across the U.S.

Freeman played Marian Almond, the cousin of Olivia de
Havilland's character who gets engaged in William Wyler's acclaimed film The
Heiress (1949). In Junior Miss (1945), she starred as 13-year-old Lois Graves,
who with her older sister (Peggy Ann Garner) meddle in people's love lives. And
she portrayed Ziggy, who learns some terrible habits from her mother in That
Brennan Girl (1946).

Freeman also starred as Miriam Wilkins, a teen who has a
pen-pal romance with a soldier (William Holden) during World War II but signs
her older sister's name to the letters, in Dear Ruth (1947). She then reprised
the role in Dear Wife (1949) and Dear Brat (1951).

The blonde and youthful Freeman also appeared in such
films as Till We Meet and Again Together Again, both released in 1944; the
musical Mother Wore Tights (1947), as the daughter of Betty Grable's character;
Streets of Laredo (1949), opposite Holden and Macdonald Carey; I Was a
Shoplifter (1950), as a petty thief and daughter of a judge; and Otto
Preminger's Angel Face (1952).

Her TV work included episodes of Maverick, Perry Mason,
Wagon Train, The Millionaire and Branded. Her final onscreen credit came in the
1972 telefilm Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol.

Always cast as a bobbysoxer even as she approached age
30, Freeman became bored with acting and turned to portrait painting.

Born in Baltimore, Freeman worked as a teenage model in
New York City and was named "Miss Subways" in 1941, the first one
picked. She was signed to her first movie contract by RKO's Howard Hughes.

In addition to Ellis -- who starred as Gidget in the 1972
TV movie Gidget Gets Married -- survivors include six grandchildren and two
great-grandchildren.

Actress Jane Adams, who was a leading lady in westerns
and horror films in the 1940s, died in Bellingham, Washington, on May 21, 2014.
She was born Betty Jane Bierce in San Antonio, Texas, on August 7, 1918. She
turned down a scholarship to Juilliard to train at the Pasadena Playhouse. She
was soon performing on the Lux Radio Theatre and working with the Harry Conover
Modeling Agency. She made her film debut in the 1942 short "So You Want to
Give Up Smoking". She was billed as Poni Adams for early film roles, including
"Salome Where She Danced" (1945), "Trail to Vengeance"
(1945), "Code of the Lawless" (1945), "Lady on a Train"
(1945), and "This Love of Ours" (1945). She was best known for her
role as Nina the hunchbacked nurse in the 1945 Universal horror classic
"House of Dracula" with John Carradine as Count Dracula, Lon Chaney,
Jr. as the Wolf Man, Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's Monster, and Onslow
Stevens as the mad scientist. She co-starred with Kirby Grant in several
westerns, including "Lawless Breed" (1946), "Gunman's Code"
(1946), and "Rustler's Round-Up" (1946). She was also seen in
"Smooth as Silk" (1946), the serial "Lost City of the
Jungle" (1946), "Night in Paradise" (1946), "The
Runaround" (1946), "The Brute Man" (1946) with Rondo Hatton,
"He Walked By Night" (1948), "Tarzan's Magic Fountain"
(1949), "Gun Law Justice" (1949) with Jimmy Wakely, "Angels in
Disguise" (1949), "Master Minds" (1949) opposite the Bowery
Boys, the Cisco Kid western "The Girl From San Lorenzo" (1950), and
"Street Bandits" (1951). She starred as Vicki Vale in the 1949 serial
"Batman and Robin" opposite Robert Lowery as the Caped Crusader. She
co-starred with western hero Johnny Mack Brown in "Western Renegades"
(1949), "Law of the Panhandles" (1950), and "Outlaw Gold"
(1950). She was featured in episodes of several television series in the 1950s,
including "The Cisco Kid", "Adventures of Wild Bill
Hickok", "Dangerous Assignment", "The Adventures of Kit
Carson", and "Superman". She largely retired from the screen in
the early 1950s. Adams was married to a U.S. Navy pilot who died during World
War II. She married Thomas K. Turnage in 1945, who became a Major General and
earned the Distinguished Service Medal and a Bronze Star during the Korean War.
Turnage also served as administrator of the Veterans Administration under
Ronald Reagan from 1986 until it became a cabinet position in 1989. Adams was
widowed in 2000 and is survived by their two children.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Ann B. Davis, known for her role as housekeeper Alice
Nelson on "The Brady Bunch," died Sunday, close friend Bishop William
Frey said. She was 88.

According to Frey, Davis fell and hit her head Saturday
morning in her bathroom. She suffered a subdural hematoma and never regained
consciousness.

Appearing in her trademark light blue maid's uniform with
a white apron, Alice anchored "The Brady Bunch" with her cheerful
attitude and witty one-liners.

In a 2004 interview with the Archive of American
Television, Davis described how she created the character.

"I made up a background story. I did have a twin
sister, so I used that as a basis. ... I cared very much about this family. It
was my family. It was close to my family as Alice would ever get. I would have
died for any single one of them at any point," she said. "You know,
they wrote me such gorgeous things to do, as the intermediary between the kids
and the adults, and between the boys and the girls. And they gave me funny
things to do."

In real life, Davis said she wasn't quite as handy around
the house as her beloved character.

"I basically don't do that well with children,
although my sister says I'm a great aunt," she told People, adding that
she hates to cook.

"When it's my turn in the house," she told the
magazine, "we just eat out."

Davis had planned to study medicine at the University of
Michigan but caught the acting bug from her brother, who was a dancer in the
national company of "Oklahoma," according to a biography of the
actress on IMDb.com.

Her big break in Hollywood came when she won the role of
Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz, the secretary on the 1950s sitcom
"The Bob Cummings Show," IMDb said.

But to generations of American TV viewers, she was best
known as Alice.

Frey, who knew Davis for 38 years, said fans often told
her that they felt like they'd been raised by the character of Alice.

"Look how well you turned out," she would
reply.

"All of wish we had an Alice. I wish I had an
Alice," Davis told People magazine in 1992.

"What you see on 'The Brady Bunch' was who she
was," Frey said. "She was a very faithful Christian person."

Davis mostly retired from show business in the late 1970s
to settle down in an Episcopal community.

"I'm convinced we all have a God-shaped space in us,
and until we fill that space with God, we'll never know what it is to be
whole," she told People.

Even as she turned her focus more toward religion, she
appeared in commercials and several stage productions.

In the 1995 "The Brady Bunch" movie, she played
a truck driver, persuading a runaway Jan to return home.

She told the Archive of American Television that she
loved working on the small screen.

"The neatest thing about television is that they
write for you. ... They find out what you can do, what you do best, how it
works, and how they can use you. And so from there on, it's wonderful. Because
it's different. It's not like playing the same play forever and ever and
ever," she said. "But the character's still the same. It just gets
better and more developed. So that's great fun."

About Me

Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1946 I have a BA degree in American History from Cal St. Northridge. I've been researching the American West and western films since the early 1980s and visiting filming sites in Spain and the U.S.A. Elected a member of the Spaghetti Western Hall of Fame 2010.